Pop-art bass strap

[Frederiek]

Hi everyone,

Proudly presenting my latest bass strap with pop-art design! It's a first time that I use bright colours, I was afraid of losing the character of the leather. That is partly the case but I find it very suitable for this design. I alternated opaque paint (for the brighter colours) with regular dye for a real nice glossy vs matte effect. It's 4,5 mm veg tan with pigskin lining and memory foam filling, hand tooled/dyed/stitched. The dots were done with an amazing piece of custom equipment in the form of an aluminium tube The pictures are made before I fitted it on the player, so the bottom hole is not yet there. 

Well I hope you like it! Comments are most welcome always room for improvement.

Frederiek

[ramrod]

absolutely stunning! what a great imagination and a perfect execution. very nicely done. you made a great use of colors and texture. it reminds me of an old comic book.

what would be cool is if you did several others in this style that, when put together, would make a complete picture. just a thought.

[Frederiek]

1 hour ago, ramrod said:

absolutely stunning! what a great imagination and a perfect execution. very nicely done. you made a great use of colors and texture. it reminds me of an old comic book.

what would be cool is if you did several others in this style that, when put together, would make a complete picture. just a thought.

That idea crossed my mind too, would be awesome!! For this particular one I took the most interesting parts of the image already, but ones with a lot of detail (explosions and such  ) would be really suitable. Thanks!!

[Colt W Knight]

When I saw the title, I said to myself, "ewww", but when I looked at your artwork, I was very impressed by how well done and clean everything is. That idea would be amazing on a series of comic book hero type straps. Kudos. 

 

[Boriqua]

That is WONDERFUL! the pressed dots give it that great Roy Lichtenstein  effect. Outstanding!

[Frederiek]

Thanks a lot for your (very honest haha!) responses :D I put a lot of time and effort in this one so your comments really matter to me.

[robs456]

On 5/11/2016 at 10:27 AM, Frederiek said:

I was afraid of losing the character of the leather.

I also used to think/worry about putting acrylic paint on leather and that it took away the 'characteristics of leather' from the piece.
But then I came to the conclusions that:
1. I choose to work with leather because of the great possibilities of the material; shaping, carving, fabrication, dyeing, painting and so on. So even if a finished piece can look and feel plastic, it isn't plastic.
2. The strengths of leather are still there, toughness, heat resistance, flexibility etc.
3. The customers who are buying the piece as 'art' cares about mainly two things: It's pretty, and it's handmade. (And some of course don't care about the handmade part.)
4. The people who want, need, the pure leather look and feel won't buy it anyway, and I sure can make things in saddle tan for them if they wish...  (Anyone else who's noticed that people tend to think brown or tan is leather's natural color?)  

So for me that strap is just pure, good leather work. Very nice.

 

[bikermutt07]

Really cool piece of art. You really nailed the eyes (According to my wife the art teacher, eyes are the toughest thing to get right). Also, the perspective is spot on. Great job. 

[Frederiek]

3 hours ago, robs456 said:

I also used to think/worry about putting acrylic paint on leather and that it took away the 'characteristics of leather' from the piece.
But then I came to the conclusions that:
1. I choose to work with leather because of the great possibilities of the material; shaping, carving, fabrication, dyeing, painting and so on. So even if a finished piece can look and feel plastic, it isn't plastic.
2. The strengths of leather are still there, toughness, heat resistance, flexibility etc.
3. The customers who are buying the piece as 'art' cares about mainly two things: It's pretty, and it's handmade. (And some of course don't care about the handmade part.)
4. The people who want, need, the pure leather look and feel won't buy it anyway, and I sure can make things in saddle tan for them if they wish...  (Anyone else who's noticed that people tend to think brown or tan is leather's natural color?)  

So for me that strap is just pure, good leather work. Very nice.

 

That's some great input, many thanks! I hadn't looked at it that way myself, when I started working with leather the natural look and feel appealed to me most of all, some kind of authenticity that isn't found in other materials. But indeed, now that I'm progressing so to say the focus shifts to the versatility (and durability of course) of working with leather. And it opens a whole lot of new opportunities

2 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

Really cool piece of art. You really nailed the eyes (According to my wife the art teacher, eyes are the toughest thing to get right). Also, the perspective is spot on. Great job. 

Thank you!

Oh, and some pictures of the new owner's bass:

 

[Boriqua]

Now for a technical question and if you want to keep it secret that is cool too. That paint is ultra smooth .. did you mask and use an airbrush?

[Frederiek]

There's no secret  I only tried out airbrush once and I suck at it. So it's all (really cheap) regular brushes, small ones, and a lot of patience. Here's some pictures of the progress (sorry for the mess  ):

And here's my superb custom dot tool:

[Ferg]

I am too old to notice much modern art. Your work is great, don't stop now!!!

Ferg

[ElMalOjo]

I'm in love. And speechless. This is so freaking awesome.

[Boriqua]

9 hours ago, Ferg said:

I am too old to notice much modern art. Your work is great, don't stop now!!!

Ferg

Nope .. Sorry brother but Lichtenstein would have probably been right in your age frame. He was born in 1923 and served his time during WWII and had his art hey day in and around the early and mid 60's. You cant deny one of your periods art children 

LOL ... only teasing .. It is a great bit of work though on that strap and I do hope to see more of it. I love the graphic style though mine go a bit darker. Lichtenstein is one of my art heros and I have seen an exhibition of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC but I keep trying for something in leather that is more along the sensibility of Frank Miller. I have some pieces but nothing I am ready to share.

[Frederiek]

8 hours ago, Boriqua said:

It is a great bit of work though on that strap and I do hope to see more of it. I love the graphic style though mine go a bit darker. Lichtenstein is one of my art heros and I have seen an exhibition of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC but I keep trying for something in leather that is more along the sensibility of Frank Miller. I have some pieces but nothing I am ready to share.

Wow that sounds amazing, I'm looking forward to that! The new owner of this strap is a comic book collector and while I'm a big fan of Lichtenstein I actually don't know much about comics... So I chose for something I did know (I didn't communicate the design as it was a first time for many things for me with this one) and it was a hit  

I'm currently working on a guitar stool that matches my own strap and I plan on doing a second stool+strap with another pop art design....

[Eddie Q]

Truly Amazing ! I've looked and looked and can't quit looking lol !! 

  

[R SFraser Sr]

Really well done, here is the likely inspiration for the strap,

for those of you not familiar with Roy Lichtenstein's work

Edited May 13, 2016 by R SFraser Sr

[Frederiek]

Thanks again! Yeah that's the one ^^

[robbied]

Consider my jaw... dropped. That is a brilliant execution. I know this topic is a couple of months on, but would you mind posting the underside? I'm about to plunge into strap making, and want to know if you folded the pigskin under the veg or just stuck it flat and left the cut edge exposed.